Bramwell, James Guy

James Guy Bramwell (1911-1995) also wrote under the name of James Byrom. Included in his output is a very objective account^[195] of the Atlantis debate in the book on the subject. Although somewhat dated now, Bramwell discusses in depth the credibility of Plato’s story as well as giving a good summary of the arguments in favour of Atlantis’ existence.

At one point in his book (p141) he denounced the view that Atlantis flourished during the Bronze Age as “untenable”!  With this in mind he looks at the Cro-Magnon invasion of Europe 25,000 years ago and their mysterious origin. They were a tall race with characteristic prominent cheekbones and a brain capacity greater than modern humans. Bramwell famously stated, “Atlantis must be understood as located in the Atlantic Ocean or it is not Atlantis at all.” Although frequently quoted, this somewhat glib quotation will not stand up to critical scrutiny if it can be shown that in the time of Plato and Solon that a number of critical terms used by him, such as ‘Atlantic’, ‘Pillars of Heracles’ and ‘Asia’, may have had a totally different meanings to what we understand today.

Bramwell’s book also contains an extensive bibliography.